Renewable Energy Leases

This guideline deals with the requirement for the following types of leases:

• Solar Farm leases
• Battery Storage Power Stations/Sites
• Rooftop Solar Farm leases

A separate guideline is available for Wind Farms.

Solar farm leases and Battery Storage Power Stations/Sites

A solar farm is a collection of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation plants comprising a series of solar panels with associated supporting structures (either fixed or tracking), inverters, switchyards, substations, batteries, monitoring equipment, gates and grids, fences, etc.

Battery storage power stations/sites are a type of energy storage system which uses a group of batteries to store electrical energy.

NSW LRS requirements

Under this and the following headings, the term “site(s)” means solar farm sites, battery sites (and associated infrastructure) and battery storage power stations.

The power authority/operator will lease the sites (and may create associated easements/restrictions on use of land) from the proprietors of the affected land. Due to the size and number of solar panels/batteries required to generate and store sufficient electricity, the site(s) may extend over many adjoining properties each of which requires a separate lease where the adjoining properties are in different ownership
.  
A lease of a site will be treated as a lease of premises. Regardless of the term, the description in the lease must refer to:
‘Part [title reference] being the premises known as Solar Farm No. … / Battery Site No. … / Battery Storage Power Station No. … designated … in DP… together with Easements for …. designated … in DP…’

NOTE: Easements/Restriction(s) may be defined in the lease plan or a separate Deposited Plan. If the affecting interests are shown on a separate plan, then that separate plan should be referred to in the description of the lease.

As the registered survey plan defines 'premises' (being the solar panels or battery sites etc) it will not constitute a 'current plan' within the meaning of section 7A Conveyancing Act 1919 and therefore will not require subdivision consent as this is one of the exemptions under section 23G Conveyancing Act 1919. Each site will not be numbered as a lot but will be shown as ‘Solar Farm No. ...' or ‘Battery Site No. …’ or ‘Battery Storage Power Station No. …’ in accordance with description in the lease.

Easements that benefit a lease affecting land not owned by the lessor (e.g. extensive rights of access through adjoining properties) may also be shown as 'proposed' on the deposited plans and can be created by the lodgment of a Transfer Granting Easement form 01TG. The description of the dominant tenement should include the registered dealing number of the relevant premises lease and the titles that the lease affects (or is intended to be affected). In these instances, the easement will operate only for the term of the lease and will be extinguished by NSW LRS on the termination of the lease from the affected title/s.

Restrictions on the Use of Land sites that are directly related to the lease may be shown as ‘proposed’ on the deposited plan and can be created by the lodgment of a Restriction on the Use of Land form 13RU.

Definition on the plan

The position of every site must be defined in a plan of survey lodged as a deposited plan and headed 'Plan for lease purposes of Solar Farms/ Battery Site/Battery Storage Power Station Premises' and each leased area must be labelled by a unique identity, e.g. ‘Solar Farm No. …’ or ‘Battery Site No. …’ or ‘Battery Storage Power Station No. …’ in accordance with description in the lease.

The area of the proposed site must be defined on the deposited plan by either a fence line or proposed fence line.

NOTE: As solar panels may move to capture the energy from the sun, allowances for the rotation of the solar panels should be considered.

The terminals of the proposed new leased boundaries and/or each separate lease site must be marked with a reference mark (Schedule 3 Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2017). The leased site(s) must be connected to the State control survey and the normal requirements for connections to permanent survey marks apply as per Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2017 (including Co-ordinate Schedule, datum etc.).

Full bearings and distances must be shown for all the boundaries of the leased site. However, the residue does not need to be defined as a lot in the plan.

The plan is exempt from placement of boundary marks set out in clause 28 Surveying and Spatial Information Regulation 2017.

All easement sites should be defined on the plan by survey (unless they comply with compiled plan guidelines). The easements should be shown as 'proposed' on the face of the plan and will be created  on registration of the lease where the lease so provides or by Transfer Granting Easement form 01TG. Where created by Transfer Granting Easement, the description of the dominant tenement should be the registered dealing reference of the relevant premises lease and the titles that the lease affects (or is intended to be affected). In these instances, the easement will operate only for the term of the lease and will be extinguished by NSW LRS on the termination of the lease from the affected title.

Any subsequent variation(s) to the leased site position after registration of the lease, will necessitate the lodgement of a Surrender of Lease form 07DL, a new lease for the premises and a new plan of survey lodged as a deposited plan.

To vary the site of the easement created by the lease or by a Transfer Granting Easement form 01TG, a Variation of Easement form 20EV should be lodged.

Rooftop Solar Farm Lease

A rooftop solar farm is considered a lease of premises. Subsequently, the premises must be defined in a sketch plan annexed to the Lease. The sketch plan must:
define each individual panel or an array of panels by a combination of prolongations and/or perpendicular offsets from the exterior walls of structure(s)

dimension the premises / site(s)
locate the building in relation to the parcel boundaries and
relate the stratum limitation of the solar panel site(s) to bench mark(s) or the surface of a permanent hardstand structure.
 
NOTE: Any sketch plan annexed to a dealing, must comply with the Lodgment Rules.

NOTE: If the lease is for the whole of the rooftop, the sketch plan must comply with the requirements as set out in the Telecommunication sites guidelines.

All legislation can be accessed at www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/

Publication Date: May 2024